Felting needle

ABSTRACT

A barb construction for a felting needle comprising a convex arcuate spur and a bottom wall extending obliquely from the base of the spur to the outer surface of the felting needle&#39;&#39;s elongated body. The bottom wall is defined by three distinct contiguous surfaces which are centered along a line parallel to the centerline of the needle&#39;&#39;s body.

United States Patent Foster Feb. 15, 1972 [54] F ELTING NEEDLE 2,882,585 4/ I959 Weickert ..28/4 N 3,566, 63 3 l97l 72 Inventor: Edson P. Foster, 409 South 29m St., P. o. i 6 zmhe' N x Box 527, Manitowoc, Wis. 54220 primary ExamnehLouiS K- Rim-0d! [22] Filed: Oct 14, 1970 Attorney-Johnson, Dienner, Emrich, Verbeck & Wagner [2]] Appl. No.: 80,720 [57] ABSTRACT A barb construction for a felting needle comprising a convex 28 N arcuate spur and a bottom wall extending obliquely from the nMh :7 base of the spur to the outer surface of the felting needles elongated body. The bottom wall is defined by three distinct [58] Field of Search ..28/4 R, 4 N, 72.2 R contiguous surfaces which are centered along a ne parallel to the centerline of the needle s body. [56] References Cited Y STATES PATENTS I i 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 2,322,573

FATENTEDFEB 15 I972 [72118721 0 rz- EdsanPfZsZe MW V1404 5.

mums NEEDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.

SUMMARY/OF THEINVENTION A stronger and improved barb .construction for a felting needle comprising a convex arcuate spur and a. bottom;wall extending obliquely from the base of the spur'to the outside surface of the felting needles elongated "body to define a threat fortheneedle. The bottom wall is formed by three distinct contiguous;surfaces-that are centered along'a line parallel to the center line of the needles body. The innermost surface of the bottom wallis fonnedas a segment-shaped fillet centered aboutthe base of the spur face.

The innermost. surface of the bottom wall has an oblique concaveconfiguration centered about the base of the barb to reinforce the support of .the barb and to provide a rounded fibercarrying surface for improved feltingaction.

The intermediate surface of thebottomwallis formed by two intersecting flat surfaces which define aridge-extending parallel to the center line of thefelting needles bodyJThis intermediate surface is'the deepest portion ofthe bottom wall and performs-thefunction of locating the tool on the edge of the felting needles body to correctly align it with respect tothe longitudinal axis of the body.

The outermost surface of .the bottom 'wall: extends ata diagonal angle toward the outersurface of the needlegbody and is formed as a convex configuration centeredon a line parallel to thecenterline ofthe'needlebody.

solzscnrprrouzorpanwmo For a better understanding. of this invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

I F lGj-l is an ,elevational viewof one form of felting needle of my present invention fabricated as described herein below;

FIG. 2 is-a greatly enlarged perspective view of a portion of the bodyof the needle of FIG. 1 showing'the improved barb construction of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevationalview of thesameportion of-the needle body shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view, of the same portion ofthe needle body as illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken alongthe line 5-5 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken-along the line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, I have shown a felting needle 10 constructed in accordance with my invention which comprises a body portion 12 and a shank portion 14. The lower end of the body-portion 12 is pointed as at portion of the body 12 of the needle shown in FIG.

It is preferable in practicing my present invention to provide a felting needle having a salient angled body portion;-that is a body portion having intersecting surfaces providing an'edge, such as shown at '20 in FIG. 2, of sufficient longitudinal extent for a spur 22 and associated recess or throat 24.'Typically for such purpose the body portion 12 may be of polygonal-cross section such as of conventional triangular-cross section currently employed in the art and as illustrated in the fragmentary 2. Az-body portion of triangular cross'section provides three:edges at which spurs may be formed and in practicing myinvention, a single spur and recessmay be formed in one or more such edges or a pluralityof spurs may-be provided in the edges as desired.

As shown inFIG..2, a portion of .the material of the body of the needle in the comer edge 20 is displaced'to form the recess 24 andsuch displaced material isshaped into a'barb above the recess.

The recess or throat 24 and the spur 22 are formedin the edge 20 by a spur-forming tool, such as is described and shown in my prior U.S; Pat.No. 3,307,238. In the application of such a tool to the edge20 of the body of-the felting needle; the spur 22 is formed to extend laterally outwardly of thebody'portion with the fiber or material-engaging surface projecting downwardly or toward the pointed end of the needle. The spur 22. is defined by downwardlyconverging lateral sidesurfaces 25-25 and joined by a convex material'engaging surface-26.

The bottom wall 28 of recess 24 is defined by three distinct contiguous surfaces 30, 32 and 34. Innermost surface 30 has a concave shape formed as an oblique circuitous configuration centered about the base of the spur 22. This oblique or beveled surfaceserves as a reinforcing means for'thetspur'22 by taking the form of a segment-shaped fillet joining the bot- .tom wall 28 and the fiber-engagingsurface-26. Also" by-virtue of its oblique concave shape, innermost surface 30provides a furtherrounded fiber-carrying surface for improving the-felting action.

Intennediate surface 32 of bottom wall 28 comprises two intersecting plane'surfaces' 36 and 38 extending at an obtuse deepest portion of the bottom wall 28, the grooved portion of the barbing tool which forms its surface will be the first part of thebarbing tool to. come in contact with theedge v20 of the needle bodyand consequently this interrnediate'surface 32 .can serve to function as a surface guiding means for'positioning the tool with respect to the needle body. It has been found that very satisfactory results are obtained when the planes36, 38 are separated by an obtuse angle of approximately l20. It will be noted that the center line of the innermost and outermost surfaces 30, 34 are in alignment with the ridge 40 of the intermediate surface 32. Because of this relationship, it is possible to accurately form the barb 22 and associated throat 24 to be parallel to the center line of the needle body 12.

The outermost surface 34 of the bottom wall 28 has a convex configuration extending at a diagonal angle downwardly of the body 12 and serves to shed the fibers as are needed. The total length of bottom wall 28 can be selectively varied by changing the angle between the outermost surface 34 and the outer surface of body portion 12 to thereby selectively change the throat opening 24. This selective feature permits control over theadmittance of fiber into the throat 24-to determine the number of fibers needled per stroke.

As is clearly depicted in FIG. 4, the spur 22 and its associated throat 24 formed in accordance with this invention provide a continuous series of surfaces centered on a line parallel to the center line of the needle body .12. One beneficial result of this arrangement is to distribute the-point of maximum barbing tool penetration of the needle body: equally over an area to avoid concentrated stresses in the steel grain structure and thereby improve barb strength.

A significant structuralfeature of the present invention is the provision of a rounded beveled surface centered about the base of the spur, such as surface 30, which reinforces the barb or spur and eliminates any shearing or chopping effects at the base of the spur when engaging the fibers. A further structural feature resides in the inclusion of a surface having two intersecting planes to define a distinct ridge which insures that the barb-forming tool is correctly aligned on the needle edge.

While I have shown and described what I considered to be a preferred embodiment of the felting needle of the present invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A felting needle comprising a body portion, a recess in said body portion, a spur at said recess, said recess being defined by a bottom wall extending from the base of said spur to the outer surface of said body portion, said bottom wall having surface guiding means to cause the correct alignment of the barb-forming tool on one of the edges of said body portion such that said spur and recess will be formed on a line parallel to the centerline of said body portion.

2. A felting needle as defined in claim 1, wherein said surface guiding means comprises a ridge defined by two intersecting plane surfaces extending outwardly of said recess, said ridge being parallel to said centerline of said body portion.

3, A felting needle as defined in claim 1, wherein said bottom wall includes a concave surface extending obliquely from the face of said spur centered about said base.

4. A felting needle comprising a body portion, a recess in said body portion and a spur at said recess having a convex material-engaging surface at its lowerend formed between downwardly converging lateral surfaces of the spur, said recess being defined by three distinct contiguous surfaces extending from said lower end of said spur to the outer surface of said body portion, the innermost of said surfaces having a concave configuration extending obliquely from and centered about said convex material-engaging surface of said spur.

5. A felting needle as defined in claim 4, wherein the intermediate of said three surfaces is shaped to cause the correct alignment of the barb-forming tool on one of the edges of said body portion such that said spur and said recess will be formed on a line parallel to the centerline of said body portion.

6. A felting needle as defined in claim 5, wherein said intermediate surface comprises two outwardly converging plane surfaces which intersect to define a ridge parallel to the centerline of said body portion.

7. A felting needle as defined in claim 4, wherein the outermost of said three surfaces has a convex shape and extends at a diagonal angle to the outer surface of said body portion.

t i t t 

1. A felting needle comprising a body portion, a recess in said body portion, a spur at said recess, said recess being defined by a bottom wall extending from the base of said spur to the outer surface of said body portion, said bottom wall having surface guiding means to cause the correct alignment of the barb-forming tool on one of the edges of said body portion such that said spur and recess will be formed on a line parallel to the centerline of said body portion.
 2. A felting needle as defined in claim 1, wherein said surface guiding means comprises a ridge defined by two intersecting plane surfaces extending outwardly of said recess, said ridge being parallel to said centerline of said body portion.
 3. A felting needle as defined in claim 1, wherein said bottom wall includes a concave surface extending obliquely from the face of said spur centered about said base.
 4. A felting needle comprising a body portion, a recess in said body portion and a spur at said recess having a convex material-engaging surface at its lower end formed between downwardly converging lateral surfaces of the spur, said recess being defined by three distinct contiguous surfaces extending from said lower end of said spur to the outer surface of said body portion, the innermost of said surfaces having a concave configuration extending obliquely from and centered about said convex material-engaging surface of said spur.
 5. A felting needle as defined in claim 4, wherein the intermediate of said three surfaces is shaped to cause the correct alignment of the barb-forming tool on one of the edges of said body portion such that said spur and said recess will be formed on a line parallel to the centerline of said body portion.
 6. A felting needle as defined in claim 5, wherein said intermediate surface comprises two outwardly converging plane surfaces which intersect to define a ridge parallel to the centerline of said body portion.
 7. A felting needle as defined in claim 4, wherein the outermost of said three surfaces has a convex shape and extends at a diagonal angle to the outer surface of said body portion. 